The MCRT is often assigned to high-profile cases such as the death of the US president’s military aide, a bomb situation on a US navy warship, the death of a celebrity on a reality show set on a US Marine Corps base, terrorist threats involving US Naval and Marine Corps weaposn, personnel and/or installations, as well as kidnappings of Navy and Marine Corps personnel or their dependents and relatives.
The NCIS-MCRT is led by Supervisory Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs. His team is composed of Special Agent and Senior Field Agent Anthony ‘Tony’ DiNozzo, Special Agent Timothy McGee, and ex-NSA analyst and probationary Special Agent Eleanor Bishop.
Previous members of the MCRT include Special Agent Ziva David until she returned to Israle in Season 11, and Caitlin ‘Kate’ Todd, who was shot and killed by rogue Mossad agent Ari Haswari, Ziva’s half-brother, at the end of Season 2.
The MCRT is assisted in their investigations by Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Donald ‘Ducky’ Mallard, his assistant Jimmy Palmer, who replaced Gerald Jackson, and Forensic Specialist Abigail ‘Abby’ Sciuto.
Through a series of flashbacks, the head of the MCRT before Gibbs was Special Agent Mike Franks who led the unit when it was part of the Naval Investigative Service (NIS), the predecessor agency of the NCIS. It was Franks who recruited Gibbs shortly after the latter retired from the Marine Corps.